Denmark’s Lasse Norman Hansen blocked out the velodrome’s wall of sound to upset British hopes and surge to cycling gold in the Olympic omnium yesterday.

Hansen recovered from a heavy crash in the penultimate event to finish ahead of France’s Bryan Coquard and Britain’s Ed Clancy, as the hosts missed out on gold for the only the second time in four days.

“I came here just to try for a medal, so to win is unreal!” said Hansen, who finished with the lowest points tally of the field.

Competing in his first Olympics after a third place at the World Championships in April, Hansen won’t forget his campaign in a hurry.

The tall 20-year-old from Faaborg crashed in the penultimate event of the scratch race when Clancy cut inside him on the track. He got up gingerly to finally rejoin a peloton that was attacking and counter-attacking its way over the 60 laps.

And to the applause that seemed to have eyes only for Clancy, the Dane eventually fought his way back into contention and crucially closed his one-lap deficit.